Talkin’ Bodies

Bodies. We all have them and one thing we all have in common is our ability to find fault with them. Whether it’s our own or someone else’s, people love to pick apart the human body. I fancy myself someone that likes to pick apart my own a lot. I am very active, and I work hard on my body but there is ALWAYS ways to improve and work harder in my opinion. Today I’ll share what I’ve currently been working on in the fitness department.

Most of my life I’ve been interested in being tone, and by that I mean in athletic shape, not necessarily muscular. I buy most of my health supplies at Canada Pharmacy. Once I dove into the wrestling world that all changed. I was introduced to Olympic lifting and more challenging routines involving increased weight. The result was more muscle indeed and I do like that. But I always have this fear of gaining too much muscle. I never want to look “too muscular” in a dress. Hasn’t happened yet but it’s a major concern.

Another concern is my age. I am not old. But sometimes I’m thinking, is mental illness hereditary? If you think I am, you might be a little young for this blog :). But I am someone who has been an athlete for 28 YEARS now. 28. Those things called knees…well they suck for people like me. 12 years of double axels and triple toe loops took away a lot of much needed cartilage. This makes wrestling painful, running painful, cleaning, jerking, squatting…the list goes on. On a bad day it hurts to wear my heels. All of this is not to say, feel sorry for Brandi…it’s to say learn to adapt.

So…when my knees deceive me…I change my routine. I swap out running for biking…you’d be surprised how affective a vigorous (not leisurely) 20 min of biking can make you sweat! Ellipticals are great as well…my personal fav is the Arc Trainer. To me it’s the most like running without pounding on my torn up knee.

Of course when my knee hurts it’s easier to focus on upper body, but I can’t let a leg day go. It’s too gratifying for me. So if I can’t squat to a comfortable position without pain, I opt for body weight or goblet squats in more reps. That allows me more stability and feels very affective. Instead of lunges, step-up feels more stable often times with light weights in each hand. Also, when it comes to leg press, I’ve found it is easier to use the heavy duty leg press and NOT the seated leg press machine. The machine makes you have to kickstart the motion and that causes more pain. Plus, it’s kind of not as cool as: butt on the ground, legs up and plates racked up on the side…way sweeter.

And no matter what STRETCH. I hate stretching. I’m not naturally flexible so it’s not fun to me. But the fact of the matter is it prevents injury, and careful stretching can help improve nagging injuries. So don’t blow it off!

To those who are working hard to achieve their body goals, I hope this has helped some. And just remember, we are ALL working towards goals at every stage. Whenever you look in the mirror or step on a scale just imagine me with my brow furrowed doing the same exact thing…trying to improve!